I am keeping my married name. This has been my name for 13 yrs now.. And I have already decided to keep it.. My kids should have the same last name as their mother too.. I was and still am glad to carry his name.. After all, the mistake wasnt made by our getting married. It just disappeared for him over time..I think to change my name would be mean that there were regrets, and I have none. Just my opinion though.

My decision will be based on my kids. I will keep my married name because of my children. Besides a name is just a name. If you've built a career using the married name, I'd keep it.

Same as Mookids...
I will keep my name because of the kids. ~P

Thank you to you women who have responded. I appreciate and agree with your words.

I am wondering though if there are any other women out there who do not have children who could answer this question.

Or guys without children, if your ex's have kept your name or not, and how it feels.

We didn't have children together. I am keeping the name. I was proud to be his wife. Unless, by chance, something else comes up for me in the way of a relationship in some distant future- I don't see me changing it. I will always love him, keeping it is my way of honouring our time in our life that was good and innocent.

I am keeping my married name...my father was a jerk and I couldn't wait to rid myself of his name. I'd rather have my stbx husband's name than be associated in any way with my dad. I am also keeping the name because my whole career has been built under this name...

i think it depends what kind of professional career you are referring to. In my personal opinion, i think you should stick with your maiden name, it is the name you were born with. you can be married one day and divorced the next.

Although my maiden name is more well known in the area I live, I am keeping my married name for the sake of my son.

I do have a kid, But I am going back to my maiden name as soon as my divorce is final. Mostly just because I hated my married name all along. But I agree that it depends on the kind of career you at talking about, and how you feel about the name. For me I love my ex still and it is not about changing it because I have regrets its just about a fresh start. So if you are attached to the name I say keep it, but if it is going to bring up bad feelings everytime you sign you name then go back. I also dont have a career established with my married name, if I did I would probably keep it.

I thought about it for about a week. And decided that I wanted to keep my married name for a couple reasons.. #1 I want to have the same last name as my children. #2 It was a pain to get everything changed over when I got married, didnt want to go through that hassle again(well unless I get married again some day).

We had no children and I am going back to my maiden name. If my STBX doesn't care enough about our marriage to stay in it, then I certainly don't want to keep his name for the rest of my life. I actually wish I didn't have to wait until everything was said and done to change it back, but maybe that's just me being bitter.

I changed back to my maiden name on the same day as the divorce was finalized. The judge declared the divorce valid, and then validated the name change. I heard later that my ex was shocked I wouldn't keep his name forever, but my children were all grown and I just didn't want to be reminded every day of the lost years and abuse. My birth family wasn't all that great either so toyed with re-creating myself and choosing a name I liked, but that seemed too contrived. So, the birth name it was. It was awkward at first, but now it is natural. I think we do whatever feels right and brings peace.

I would like to say I kept my married name for the kids, but I really kept it for my profession and just to piss him off. He wanted me to change it since I was the one that filed for the divorce.

If there is children involved I would suggest that you keep your married name. This will help your kids adjust to the divorce. They will see you are divorcing your ex and not them. Once they are grown if you are still interested in going to your maiden then you can without felling guilty. If there is no children involved then I would say use your maiden name right away. If your family has tarnished your last name you can still use that name and not associate yourself with them. If it is Smith and someone asks you just say you are not associated with those Smiths.

If you have built your career under your married name, it would probably be wise to keep it the same, thats if you feel comfortable keeping it. My husband and I are heading to divorce after being married not even two years and i plan on changing it back to my maiden name, i guess in my situation we werent married long enough for me to get use to my married name. Also the thought of keeping it makes me hurt inside, i feel that its no point...